I went to Texas recently. Just for fun. I did a lot of cool things and new things and ate some of the best food I have had in a long time. Melt in your mouth steak, sticky and soy saucy sushi and sashimi, tacos with meat that literally falls apart, and margs that just made me wonder what the heck is even in a Minnesota margarita. It was a sweet little vaca spending time with a sweet old friend and my very generous, adventurous and food loving cousin.
My cousin sent me home with this giant textbook from his company that weighs about 10 pounds. At first I was like what the heck is this, it looks like a dictionary. But then I started to read it.
It’s basically like a book of quotes with an index of all the words/topics you could ever dream of. Its actually wonderful and will be such an amazing tool for a writer (ish) person like me.
So why am I talking about success again? The first word I flipped to in this monster 2,000 page book was success. Of which there are FIFTEEN pages of quotes, poems, bible verses and proverbs all about success.
These quotes are from Winston Churchill and Confucius to Charles Darwin and Ralph Waldo Emerson, Benjamin Franklin and Bob Dylan. Literally the best gift anyone has ever given me. I have 2,000 pages of a mix thought provoking, laugh inducing and unique words all at the fingertips of my very thirsty brain. Ready to slurp up all the inspiration this world is willing to give me.
As I am just a baby in my career life, I can’t help but dream of what success will look like for me in 5 years. <— but HOLD ON. Who is to say I am not already successful RIGHT NOW? I am in this perpetual state of working towards a career goal and being antsy to get there – not stopping (at least not very often) to look around at how successful I am, even if I am not doing my dream job or even half of my dream job.
It is easy for me to get caught up dreaming of what will be, when all we have is now. I know it in my head, but sometimes other things get in the way and make me forget. The world wants us to keep up with it, enticing us with new iPhones, fancy things, trips to Asia and basically having a lot of money to throw at things that don’t always mean a lot in the grand scheme of life.
So here are a few things about success that I am trying to take to heart in this season of life:
“To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty; to leave the world bit better whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition, to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived, this is to have succeeded.”
-Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Everyone who has ever taken a shower has had an idea. Its the person who gets out of the shower, dries off & does something about it that makes a difference.”
-Nolan K. Bushnell
“Behold the turtle, He only makes progress when he sticks his neck out.”
-James B. Conant
“You have succeeded in life when all you really want is only what you really need.”
-Vernon Howard
This is a long post, but so many words in this book have already challenged me and made me take (another) long hard look at my attitude towards what I have been given and all that I have accomplished and will accomplish. To look at it with gratitude and content rather than impatience and criticism.
This is water people. The water that we swim in every day – we just have to choose what we are going to pay attention to. Every. Morning. We Get To Choose.
